The present invention relates to the field of motor vehicle navigation systems, and in particular to a technique for determining a route between the instantaneous location of the motor vehicle and the destination of the motor vehicle.
Known motor vehicle navigation systems often include centrally stored traffic information indicative of a traffic network. This information is retrieved by a vehicle, according to certain criteria, in order to determine the vehicle's optimum route to its destination. A problem with this technique is that the centrally stored traffic information is often insufficient in quantity and quality to properly determine the vehicle's optimum route.
One proposed technique for reducing this problem is to receive traffic information (i.e., floating car data) from moving vehicles to supplement the centrally stored traffic information. This technique is premised on the idea that the vehicles themselves recognize traffic conditions and report these conditions to a central location. The central location processes and combines these condition messages and makes the result indicative of the traffic situation available to motor vehicle receivers. However, experience of recent years has shown that this technique has not been successful for at least several reasons.
One problem is that previous formulations of the floating car data were based on the telematic protocol GATS. However, up to now, too few terminal devices were available for this. Another problem was that the floating car data (FCD) range of the GATS protocol was not generally accessible. In addition, the previously used FCD techniques led to extremely high communication costs, since feedback of the traffic situation to the FCD vehicles was hardly possible. The FCD method becomes effective only with high penetration of the vehicle population which carries the appropriate electronic equipment. The build-up to full coverage is as yet not in prospect.
Extrapolation of the communication costs to generate FCD data yielded such large amounts that reciprocal financing by telematic services was questionable. This is true all the more so since telematic services are not being used to the extent that was expected. Consequently, they cannot make the relevant profits that would have permitted reciprocal financing.
Furthermore, the FCD method is subject to data protection. If it were introduced as standard equipment, privacy advocates my decry such a system has an intrusion on personal privacy.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that enables acquisition of current traffic conditions while economically improving navigation and destination guidance using up-to-date traffic/situational data.